


All We See Is Sky

by orphan_account



Series: Dear (Peter Parker) [1]
Category: Avengers: Endgame - Fandom, Avengers: Infinity War - Fandom, Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Almost Kiss, Based on a Dear Evan Hansen Song, Canonical Character Death, Dear Evan Hansen References, Depends On Where You Want To Stop Reading, Happy Ending, I'm A Musical Nerd Okay, Kind of Songfic I guess, M/M, Sad Ending, Song: For Forever (Dear Evan Hansen), you can't stop me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-12
Updated: 2019-11-12
Packaged: 2021-01-29 15:42:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21412609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “Jesus, Peter, how far away is this place?”“Harley, we've been walking for three minutes. You need to get out of the lab more.”“But the sunlight hurts my face,” Harley whines. “Vampires like me need to stay inside.”“You're from Tennessee. Vampires don't live in the country.”“Well, I'm special.”Peter mutters something quietly that could almost beyes, you are,if Harley heard it correctly, but it's probably just wishful thinking.In reality, it's the perfect day to be outside. The remoteness of the Avengers compound in upstate New York means that there's no sounds of traffic or buildings to ruin the scene. The late afternoon sun is bright, the sky almost completely clear, save for a few puffy white clouds, and there's a slight breeze blowing through the May air. It's ruffling up Peter's curls in a way that's making it very difficult for Harley not to stare at him.This one's for all you Dear Evan Hansen nerds.
Relationships: Harley Keener & Peter Parker, Harley Keener/Peter Parker
Series: Dear (Peter Parker) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1545256
Comments: 5
Kudos: 60





	All We See Is Sky

**Author's Note:**

> So, I saw a Tumblr post by [bellabeatrice](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellabeatrice) about writing a fic based on a Dear Evan Hansen song, and while it's not based on the one she was talking about, this fic is inspired by the song ['For Forever'](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkdPRcY0k4o). The fic's not taken in the full context of the musical, because a real DEH AU is a whole lot of angst that I'm not currently depressed enough to write, but there are references that you'll only get if you know the full story.
> 
> **If you want to stay happy and have a good time, _stop reading after the asterisks._**
> 
> I do my own editing. If you see any errors, let me know in the comments. Otherwise, enjoy!

“Jesus, Peter, how far away is this place?”

“Harley, we've been walking for three minutes. You need to get out of the lab more.”

“But the sunlight hurts my face,” Harley whines. “Vampires like me need to stay inside.”

“You're from Tennessee. Vampires don't live in the country.”

“Well, I'm special.”

Peter mutters something quietly that could almost be _yes, you are,_ if Harley heard it correctly, but it's probably just wishful thinking.

In reality, it's the perfect day to be outside. The remoteness of the Avengers compound in upstate New York means that there's no sounds of traffic or buildings to ruin the scene. The late afternoon sun is bright, the sky almost completely clear, save for a few puffy white clouds, and there's a slight breeze blowing through the May air. It's ruffling up Peter's curls in a way that's making it very difficult for Harley not to stare at him.

“Okay, just through these trees and then we're there,” Peter announces. His words are nearly obscured by the sound of his stomach growling.

“Seriously? You _just _ ate half a tub of ice cream.”

“Spider metabolism.” It's true, but the phrase has also become Peter's usual excuse for eating everything in Tony's kitchen, so much that it's practically some weird meme between the two of them and Harley can't take him seriously with it.

Peter stops a few seconds later, at the edge of a massive field ringed trees. The grass is a vibrant carpet of green, and Harley can hear birds calling to one another in the surrounding branches. It's one of the most beautiful things of nature he's seen in a long, long time.

“Ta-da!” Peter does a backflip into the open, landing neatly on the ground. “Far away enough that nobody can bother us, close enough to the Compound that Tony won't freak out.”

“How did you find this?” Harley says in wonder, following him onto the grass. “You spend just as much time in the labs as I do.” Peter looks a bit guilty.

“I, uh, don't tell Mr. Stark, but I couldn't sleep one night and I decided to go outside.” Harley freezes internally for a moment, because when Peter says 'couldn't sleep', ninety-nine percent of the time that means nightmares, and Peter doesn't need to be dealing with those by himself. But he's trying to do something nice for Harley, and Harley doesn't want to ruin the moment, so instead he smiles, sits down and pulls Peter down to settle beside him.

There's no need for either of them to say anything for a few minutes. Harley lies down on his back and just takes in theclear blue sky, birds flying overhead. He can't find a sight like this when he goes to school in the city, a maze of concrete heights reaching up into the atmosphere. But…

“This reminds me of home,” Harley says wistfully.

“Really?” Peter copies him, stretching out on his back. “Normally the only time I see something like this is in Central Park, and that's still in the middle of New York.”

“In Tennessee, you can drive in any direction out of town, and the sky can look like this.” Harley grins. “Gotta take you back with me someday to the edge of civilization, and you'll see.”

“Okay, road trip. I'll keep that in mind.” Peter laughs, which lately has turned into one of Harley's favorite sounds in the world. “You gonna go back home once school is over?” His tone has a little more gravity to it. It's their last year of high school for Peter and Harley, graduating in a matter of months now, and the change is still mildly terrifying to think about.

“Probably,” Harley admits. “But Abbie's doing fine with her classes, and Mom's okay at home, so I don't think I'll stay very long. Oh, I did tell you I'm joining you at NYU, right?”

“What? No, you didn't,” Peter exclaims. “When was this?”

“Uhh, only a few days ago.”

“And you just, oh, _forgot_ to tell me?” Peter takes a jab at him, teasingly. “But that's great. Think we can bribe Tony into getting us a dorm together? Making new friends is too much effort.”

“Maybe,” Harley has to keep himself from smiling like an idiot at that. “But apart from classes, there's so many things I want to do once I've graduated. Did you know that I've never been outside the States?” he tells Peter incredulously. “I want to take a month or two to just go places, explore the world.”

“That would be cool,” Peter says. “I've only been outside the country once. Went to Germany, but I didn't get to really see much because I had to fight Captain America.”

“Oh, it was _that_ time.” He's heard the first-person recap of that incident from Peter more than once. “Well, we could go back to Germany one day.” Harley lets the _we _slip out by accident, but Peter doesn't seem to mind.

“We should do that,” he smiles. “When we're finally free from high school. Borrow one of Mr. Stark's jets and have Happy fly us around the globe, or something.”

“We'll probably give Happy a heart attack,” Harley jokes. “He gets stressed out looking after just one of us. In a foreign country? We'll end up paying his medical bills.”

“We can leave Happy behind here, and it can be just us, then,” Peter says, and Harley's brain short-circuits when Peter said 'just us'.

“Okay,” is the only response Harley manages to form, and besides, he'll agree with any future that includes Peter in it.

“But honestly?” Peter sits up, takes a glance around, at the clearing and the sky watching over them before looking down at Harley. “at least right now, there's nowhere else in the world I want to be but here.”

And what else can Harley say, when all he wants to do is let the world pass by and hold onto this one moment?

“Yeah, me too.”

The fading light of dusk starts filtering through the air a while later. Peter stands up, holds out a hand to Harley.

“Here, I want to show you something else,” he says. “Follow me.”

Harley goes with Peter to one of the tallest trees around the field, a huge oak that took who knows how long to grow.

“How good are you at climbing trees?” Peter asks.

“I'm alright.” Harley's had some practice as a kid, climbing the trees around his house, but he hasn't actually done it for a while.

“Can you can handle this one? I'll be there if you need help.” Harley studies the thick limbs, the rough bark that should provide good holds.

“I think I'll be okay,” he decides, and Peter hauls himself onto the nearest branch, a gesture for Harley to go after him.

Obviously it's far easier for Peter to scale the tree, with his enhanced abilities, but Harley thinks he does a fair job keeping up with Spider-Man. Instinct and old memory kicks in as he crawls higher and higher, one foot after the other. One branch to another, until Harley's at the top, and Peter's waiting for him.

“Holy crap,” he whispers. Green hills spread to the horizon, a creek weaving its way through patches of forest. The setting sun casts gentle shadows over the landscape, and the expanse of sky stretches on to forever.

Harley closes his eyes, feeling the warmth on his face, until his posture sways and he realizes that's probably a bad idea when he's holding on to the top of a tree.

“Whoa, don't fall,” Peter warns him, carefully shifting closer. “You good?”

“Yeah, I'm fine.” Harley grips tighter to his branch, watching Peter take in the view with this sort of entranced look on his face, the glow from the sun turning his brown eyes into pools of golden. Peter turns to look at Harley, and as breathtaking as the world before them is, to Harley it doesn't compare to the person beside him.

The air between Harley and Peter feels charged with some kind of energy now, something electric. Harley, slowly, cautiously, begins to lean in. Peter tilts his head, closer, choosing not to move away.

And then…

Harley sees Peter flinch first, sees his shoulders tense up. Sees Peter begin to reach out for Harley, instinctively. Protectively.

A millisecond later, the branch beneath Harley's feet snaps, and he's falling.

When he hits the ground, Harley doesn't so much hear the bone break as feel it, a signal of _wrong _that hits his mind like a train, shooting a burning sensation through his left arm before it goes numb. Harley attempts to sit up from where he's lying on the ground, but moving at all sends another wave of pain through him.

“Shit, shit, shit,” he hears Peter curse, dropping ten feet out of the tree and landing on his feet. “Harley, I'm sorry, I was too slow and I could've caught you. Shit.”

“Hey, the branch broke. That's all,” Harley says, wincing. “If anything, blame it on the tree.”

“Yeah, but I got you to climb the tree. We could've avoided this if I hadn't dragged you with me.”

“Peter, stop,” Harley tells him, because Peter will keep blaming himself for things beyond his control unless someone else tells him not to, and even then it's a struggle. “I chose to climb the tree. I put myself out there to fall. It happened really fast, and this is not your fault in any way. But you're here now, and I'm going to be fine.” He's trusted Peter for as long as he's known him. “Okay?”

“Okay.” Peter takes a breath to compose himself, visibly shoving back the emotions before kicking back into his normal someone-needs-help mode. “Your arm looks broken, but if we can get you to stand, do you think you can walk back to the compound?”

“I think so?”

“Alright, let's try to get you on your feet. Here,” Peter grasps Harley's right shoulder, the side that's not injured. “One, two, three...”

“As a public service to everyone, I will be saving the lecture until after I know this dumbass' arm is going to be okay,” Tony announces to everyone in the medical suite, “but remember,” he points at Peter then Harley in turn, “you two have it coming.”

Colonel Rhodes doesn't take too long to set Harley's arm, seeing as the Avengers compound is supplied with everything to deal with a broken limb and much, much worse. Peter stays by his side the whole time. Tony's rant about staying safe and being responsible isn't as bad as Harley feared, and they're free within a few minutes.

“Just be glad Pepper isn't here,” Peter whispers into Harley's ear. He's right. An angry Tony Stark is manageable, but an angry Pepper Potts… Harley has witnessed her rage before, and he has no desire to do so again for the rest of his life.

They wind up in Harley's room, lounging on his bed side by side. The cast is going to be a bitch to deal with for the next few weeks, but whatever, Harley's had to face worse ordeals. It feels strange, though, having his wrist immobilized, and he keeps fidgeting to twist his arm back and forth.

“Can I sign it?” Peter asks, breaking the silence.

“If you want to. Be the first name on this stupid thing,” Harley replies. Peter slides off the bed, grabbing a Sharpie from Harley's desk. He concentrates and writes his name in big block letters, PETER, taking up almost the entirety of the cast.

“There. Now everyone will know that you're my friend,” Peter declares, sitting back with satisfaction. His words are weighted, though, and when he looks Harley in the eye there's something there that he won't say.

The moment from the tree is gone, interrupted by the fall. Harley doesn't know if it'll return. But the bold black letters on his cast speak enough.

Wherever this goes, whatever it becomes, Peter's claiming Harley now. Taking him for his own.

And Harley is happy to be his.

*****

All of this flashes through Harley's mind as his world shatters.

That picturesque afternoon he shared with Peter in the field was twenty-two days ago. Twenty-one days ago, something happened. He knows Peter went… went into freaking _space_, with Tony, and then just hours later, half the world's population disappeared. Gone, without a trace.

His mother won't pick up. Abbie's cell goes to voicemail. Harley still has no idea what's happened to them, if they're alive or not, and it'll be a while before he does. Three weeks later, the world is still compiling the full numbers of the fallen.

Three weeks later, and he's standing on the airstrip of the Compound at nearly midnight with the other remaining Avengers, watching an alien ship descend and Tony stumble down out of it, emaciated and sick. Of course, _of course_ Tony would find his way back to Earth, the man's too much of a genius to just die like that, but Harley's eyes keep skipping back to the entrance of the ship, waiting for one more person to step out. Tony leans on Steve Rogers, gazing at something beyond him with shallow breaths and a terrible haunted look in his eyes.

“I lost the kid,” he says.

And then Harley's running, running into the night, anywhere that he doesn't have to deal with reality and a world where Peter is gone. Someone's calling after him, it might be Rhodey or maybe Pepper, but his mind feels trapped in a bubble. Their words fall on deaf ears.

Somehow, Harley's feet find his way back to the field in the forest, where he spent the last day he had with Peter. Out of breath, he falls to his knees in the dewy grass and lets out not a scream, but some other more animal sound of raw anguish.

The silhouette of that oak tree stands out, mocking him, even in the dark. Harley can't climb it now, not with his broken arm. He wouldn't even if he could. It's just a painful reminder now, because Peter was his biggest _almost_, biggest _maybe. _Even if he wasn't he was still Harley's greatest friend. The closest one he ever had. Now he's not, might never be again. Harley traces the letters scrawled on his cast, which apart from the memories of that perfect day are the last sign left of Peter that he has.

The space above isn't blue anymore. It's a never-ending blanket of black, studded with a thousand twinkling constellations.

As the tears begin to fall, Harley stares up, hopeless, into the sky that's all he sees, and wonders if he'll be waiting for forever until the stars bring Peter Parker back.

**Author's Note:**

> Hmmm, okay, maybe that last part wasn't necessary, but hey, there's a reason why Evan sings For Forever in the first place. 
> 
> But don't worry, I will fix things (eventually). I think this is going to be the first in a three-part series, with each fic based on a DEH song. I'm pretty excited about this, actually, so if you want to see that sort of story then stay tuned.
> 
> If you liked this fic, then comments, kudos or _constructive_ criticism are welcome and appreciated. 
> 
> That's all for now, folks. Thanks for reading!


End file.
